Picking up the softball field and then watching people walk right through it, just to clean up the field again was irritating for sophomore Rachel Davis. Now, though, Davis no longer has to worry about re-cleaning as SHS’s east-side fields are getting a fence built around the entire fielded area.

Although she wishes a fence could be put up around each individual field, she is happy about the fact that less people will be walking through the softball fields with a field surrounding the entire area. Protecting the fields is one of the main reasons principal Brian Knight says the fence is being built.

“I know there’s some people upset because the community can’t use it,” Knight said. “But I think there’s times we have to think about our kids and our athletes.”

Particularly, Knight wants to protect the field from being covered in dog feces, along with keeping it from being torn up or having holes. It will, however, be open to students at SHS during the day at school. He doesn’t believe keeping it available to only SHS students and staff is a complete loss, as another field is to be opened soon near Homecroft.

On the other hand, speech teacher Sara Berghoff, looks at it as a loss because the field-to-come is “significantly” smaller than the current one at SHS.

“I think it shuts the school off from the community,” Berghoff said.

She thinks that the field has always offered an openness between SHS and the rest of the community. Berghoff, herself, has utilized the space with her daughter, who would fly kites. Now, not being able to fly kites there, and others not being able to carry out all activities they previously could, Berghoff considers the idea of the fence, in general, a “terrible” one.

Knight says he does realize that a school should be an inviting place for the community, but he also explained that this creates the ability to charge people to watch the junior varsity games on that field, so that there won’t be as much a loss of money for the school at the end of a game. By paying people like umpires at each junior varsity game, but receiving no money from the fans at the game, SHS was always at a loss for money. At the same time, SHS will be able to maintain a cleaner field, where less people will be coming in and out. It will also make for a lesser upset community, as Knight says that at times, SHS had received calls about the traffic when events like PTYF would utilize the field and cars would park alongside it.

“All of that together is the reason we’re fencing it off,” Knight said.